True Nature
by KaioM
Summary: There's what you see, and then there's the truth. Uzumaki Mito learned this the hard way, many, many times. What's a girl to do when each repeat just ends in betrayal? Female Naruto, time loop fic. Rated M for language.


**New story... This replaces Naruto with Mito, his female counterpart, because I think Naruko is stupid. I didn't know if rating this story T could cover words like 'fuck', so... M. Please enjoy.**

**Beta: _Nope._**

**_Words: 4,011_**

_Question: If you had to either eat a live golfish or sand, which would you choose and why?_

* * *

The first time around was relatively easy when compared to the rest.

I wasn't smothered in my sleep. Even though the villagers abused me, it was mostly emotional by the end. And, either way, after saving them from certain death multiple times, most villagers let go of their hate. There was no point, not when I obviously wasn't going anywhere.

But, see, the people I thought were my friends? Yeah, they weren't.

You'd think I'd have discovered by then that people just weren't trustworthy, but, hey. Sucks to be a moron, huh?

So, naturally, I was a little shocked when Hinata tried to stab me to death when she thought I was sleeping.

In my own words, "What the fuck?"

I mean, I was under the impression that we were friends. After I basically saved her ungrateful ass and build up her self confidence for ten fucking years, you know? And, besides, she had that whole lesbian crush thing going on for me, too, bayo. If I was safe from anyone, it was Hinata.

Yeah, that turned out to be a lie.

So, I defended myself, all the while saying things like, "What are you doing?", "Please, stop!", "Hinata, I'm your friend!" Et cetera.

Whatever, though.

Guess she didn't value our friendship that much. According to her, her father had told her, specifically, _"Hinata, if you kill the Uzumaki, you will become clan head."_

And that justifies trying to kill me how?

I hope she chokes on the brownies I made her. I mean, I'd given them to her just that morning. She doesn't deserve them, anyway. I put a lot of effort into those brownies, too! Do you know how hard it is to make a perfect brownie? Damn hard, bayo! It took my kage bushin months to acquire enough knowledge for me to even attempt those brownies! And then to buy the ingredients; god, does she know how hard it was to find those? It isn't just any store that sells purified vanilla orchid extract! I even added white chocolate chips; I decorated those damn brownies with icing, bayo! And what does Hinata do in return for my carefully made chocolate perfection?

She fucking kills me.

Bitch.

And it isn't like Hinata is super strong or anything. I mean, yeah, she can hold her own against most people, but me? I'm a fucking legend, bayo! The only reason she killed me was because I dodged the entire time; I didn't fight back at all, aside from disarming her. I didn't think Hinata would _actually_ kill me.

Evidently, she did, bayo.

So, when I woke up in my crappy, one room apartment, with the same body I had when I was twelve, I was kinda confused.

At first I thought it might be heaven, you know, 'cause Konoha was destroyed in the war and all. But then, when I walked to the academy, I saw Hinata there! Sitting in the seat she always sat in during our grade school years, the one right next to mine, like nothing had happened!

And then, when she saw me, she waved. Actually _waved_.

I was so angry that I snapped the bitch's neck right there.

I mean, I didn't think it would _kill_ her, since at the time I thought it was a genjustu, but I heard her neck snap and everything, bayo! It felt pretty real, and to be honest, it made me feel really, really sick. I know Hinata killed me, but I still thought of her as my friend.

And everyone else seemed pretty freaked out about it, too. Kiba started screaming, Sakura and Ino burst into tears, Shikamaru woke up, Choji stopped eating, blah, blah, blah…

It was about then that Mizuki-teme came in.

"What's going on?" Mizuki-teme.

"It was Mito! It was Mito! She-she ki-killed Hinata!"

And then there was a kunai in my brain.

I know, I know, anticlimactic. And, really? I'm a little bit ashamed that I let _Mizuki_ kill me, but I'd just killed my best friend. Even though I know she wasn't _really_ my best friend, building a bond with someone over the course of ten years doesn't just go away. Her blood was all over me, I still had my hand wrapped around her windpipe… Yeah. I'm just going to change the subject now.

So, Mizuki killed me, I'm dead, right? Wrong.

Just like before, I woke up again, in my apartment. According to my cheap, cracked mirror, I was still twelve. My hair was in the signature twin pony tails, some red strands framing my face on either side. My forehead bangs were still in play, although the forehead protector I'd worn under them wasn't there. My hair was still long. My chest showed very little sign of development. My waist no longer held the curves I'd grown to appreciate.

It was fucking creepy, bayo.

I checked the calendar. X's marked off every day leading up to one: October 12th. There was a giant note there that read, '_Graduation! Gambatte!_' I was a little bit scared. On October 10th, there was a very small-and I mean _small_, bayo-note that read, '_My birthday_'. It was exactly like the calendar I'd had as a child.

At the time, I was still sure that it was a genjustu that took knowledge from me to make it more realistic. Only one way to prove that wrong, bayo.

So I talked to Kurama.

Some ten minutes of meditation, and bam! Sewer. Yeah, Kyuubi was in there, but the seal was still on.

Last time I'd checked, Kyuubi and I had been pretty close, bayo. Close enough that the seal was removed, at the very least.

And then Kurama literally barked curses at me. His killing intent was enough to crack anyone; fit for a demon, actually. It was so bad that I actually killed myself.

I mean, do you know who I am? I'm Uzumaki Mito, bayo! The fact that Kurama made me kill myself, even if it was only my subconscious that snapped my own neck, was bad. Like, really bad. Kurama hasn't subjected me to more than a small tinge of his killing intent for years now.

The next couple hundred lives were a whirlwind, bayo. None of them were too important. In most of them, I was killed before the fourth shinobi war could even start. Some of them ended with Konoha destroyed. Some of them ended with world domination. Sometimes Sasuke betrayed Konoha, sometimes it was Kiba. Once, it was Hinata. Sakura a couple times. Apparently, Sasuke broke and spent about an hour ranting about how much he hated her when she asked him to lunch, and then left her parents a note outlining how Sasuke was the only thing she cared about in life, and that she had nothing, blah, blah, blah, just another pathetic fan girl bitch letter… Actually, Sakura tends to kill herself whenever she leaves the village… Hmm… Interesting…

I started keeping a journal of my ordeals in my mindscape. I'm currently on entry 2,803,200 of the five hundred twentieth life. Meaning, I've written 2,803,200 entries in the course of 519 lives. I just started this one. Lucky 520, huh?

I'm getting really sick of this, bayo.

Over the course of these lives, everyone has betrayed me at some point. I can't look at Sasuke without remembering the chidori in my chest. Whenever I see Temari, the memory of being suffocated in the bathhouse overwhelms me. I can't look at Hinata without seeing her face, while she delivered a death blow to my heart. I can't even glance at Ino without picturing her, with a kunai aimed right for my head. I can't even think about Sakura without cringing at the memory of her fist slamming my head into the ground. Kakashi abandoning me to save Sasuke at the Valley of the End. Tsunade banishing me from Konoha. Jiraiya sacrificing me to Pein in order to avoid conflict.

Everyone I've ever met has a backstory with me that hasn't even happened yet. Most of these people I haven't even met yet.

I don't even know what's causing it.

Hey, though. Last time ended on a bad note with everyone. That's to be expected, I guess, bayo. Every now and then I get a bit fed up and just, well… Kill everyone. 519 was just one of those lives.

I sit down on the floor, meditating.

Sewer! And I've reached the desired destination.

After stumbling around in the dark for a couple minutes, I find my diaries. There's bookshelves of them. I hardly ever open 'em, though. See, sense it's a mental diary, when I open one I get… Sucked in to the entry I'm reading. It's nice for reliving glory days, I guess, but it's annoying in retrospect, bayo.

"**So you have finally decided to come to visit, little human?**" A snarl from deep within the cage. "**I'll kill you, hu-**"

I cut Kurama off by waving my hand a little. Chains burst out of the wall, grapping the tails of Kyuubi, while gates fall from the darkness that surrounds my mind, pinning the fox to the ground. Within seconds, Kyuubi has been tamed. I walk to the seal, ripping it off. I tear it to shreds, tossing it onto the floor in disgust. I'm sure the tendrils of my parent's chakra are terribly confused right now, but I have bigger issues than dealing with _them_ again.

After the three hundredth time of talking to the man who made your life hell and the woman who was powerless to stop it, things get a little old.

"See you later, Kurama! Have fun in here, bayo!"

I cut the connection, jumping up from the floor. I'm not late for class yet. Still got time, and all that.

I restart immediately before leaving for the academy, so I don't even need to get dressed; already done. I mean, yeah, I'm wearing a bright green tank top with a long sleeved red mesh shirt under it, along with the same color green shorts, with more red mesh covering my legs. And, yes, I did miss my boots. Shin guards were nice, but red sandals are just going to have to do.

I'm definitely dying these things later. Ah, the joy of grass stains. A ninja who troops around in black? Yeah, they'll likely be caught and killed on their first real mission.

I slip out the open window, sliding down the wall with chakra. Really though, there was no point in closing it; the villagers toss a brick at it every three seconds.

As if on cue, there's a loud crash from my apartment.

I slip through the streets, heading to the academy. No one pays much attention to me, aside from the occasional glare from extremely observant shinobi. Actually, if I'm being honest, I've sorta gotten over the whole, '_Everyone here has killed you_' thing.

It's only fair, since I've killed them my own fair share of times, too, bayo.

I practically crawl into the academy; I always hate this part. Hinata waves to me, smiling lightly, motioning to the seat next to her. The same seat that, to her knowledge, I've sat in everyday for the past five years. The same seat that I graduated in the first time, that seat next to Hinata.

(Hinata who killed me.)

I sit alone, near a window, on the other side of the room from Hinata. Sasuke's right next to me; he doesn't seem to notice.

Iruka walks in, moving to stand in front of the room. "Alright, class! Today is the graduation exam. This could make or break your entire carrier as shinobi." He stops to look over at the class. I roll my eyes at his dramatics. I mean, if you examine Iruka as a shinobi, you see only a washed out failure that barely graduated his genin exam, and then got through his chunin one by riding off his teammates success. It's really for the best that he became an instructor, considering. "First is the written exam, then after is the physical one. The physical exam will be in alphabetical order. When you get your test, you may begin."

Mizuki, the dirty lying rat that he is, hands out the tests, being sure to glare at me when he was under the impression that I wasn't looking.

I have _eyes_, you idiot.

This is probably the best part of any of my lives. Do you know how fun it is to answer about half of them correctly, a quarter of them half correct, and the rest so sickeningly wrong that it's practically another test in and of itself?

Very fun, bayo.

_Question: What is the most important tool to a shinobi?_

That's pretty simple. The mind, just the same as it's been in the past. But, you know what? I want to get this one wrong.

_Answer: A teammate. A meat shield is always helpful, no matter how annoying they are._

Next!

_Question: Why does Konoha focus so much on teamwork?_

_Answer: To trick other villages into thinking that Konoha is a weak village._

_Question: How did the Fourth die?_

_Answer: Keeping the village safe from Kyuubi._

_Question: If you must throw a kunai so that it hits a target that is both at a 90 degree angle with the ground and five feet from you, at what angle should you throw the kunai?_

_Answer: If you need to do a math problem to hit a target, you should just drop out now before you're killed in combat._

And on, and on, and on, until, finally, I was done.

Personally, I'm almost positive that I ended up in the middle of the pack.

"Alright! And that concludes the amount of time for the written test. Please check to make sure that you wrote your name on your test and I will collect them from you."

Sakura rechecked her test for must have been the thousandth time. Ino rolled her eyes, obviously unconcerned. Sasuke just kept staring into space. Shikamaru was asleep. Choji was eating. Hinata as continuously sending me concerned looks. Kiba appeared to be talking to his dog.

In short, everyone seemed to be pretty normal.

Iruka stood in front of the class. "We will now call you down in groups of three for the physical part of the exam. Please come to the testing room when called."

I sighed overdramatically. I already knew what was going to happen. Or, I had a pretty good idea.

What? This is the past. Things change.

Once, I decided to be Kunoichi of the Year, just to see what would happen. Actually, in the complete list of scores, I was above of Sasuke. The second my title was announced, Sasuke actually had a panic attack, followed quickly by severe PTSD. The poor guy almost died, but his shinobi carrier was immediately halted by the Sandiame. Upon seeing 'their Sasuke-kun' in such a condition, Sakura and Ino promptly quit the ninja gig as well. I guess it makes sense; Sasuke was jumping at his own shadow, bayo! He was stuttering worse than Hinata. Even if his breakdown was only indirect on my part, I felt a bit guilty for that one.

What? I unintentionally destroyed his dreams and left him in the hospital. Guilt? Yes.

When I hit myself into the middle ground in the list of scoring, leaving Sasuke to his ego and making sure to gradually make him strong enough to defend that ego, and Sakura to her worthless title considering that she's an E-Rank threat at this point, I can be on nearly any team, bayo. Weirdly enough though, I'm almost always with the people who were originally in the Rookie Nine. Only twice have I been on a team in another combination. Probably a trick on the Sandiame's part.

Ino is irritating beyond belief. If Sasuke is on the team it becomes torture.

Kiba is okay, but he looks at me in _that_ way a bit too much for my liking after I fill out a little.

Sasuke is alright, I guess. As long as he thinks he's the strongest guy around, he leaves me alone. I don't like talking much anymore.

Hinata is unacceptable. When I'm on a team with her, I usually kill our sensei or Hinata herself to get out of it.

Shino is fine. Same as Sasuke, minus the ego.

Sakura; refer to Ino, than make it ten times worse. Twenty if Sasuke is also included in the team.

Shikamaru is far too lazy for my liking. Ninja like him should just die.

Choji just needs to get a little rougher around the edges, I think. He's alright after a couple battles.

And that, my friends, is the encyclopedia of genin matches. No one else in our class actually passes their real graduation test, bayo. The only one I've ever been on a team with is Kurama Miho. Did you know that she's related to Kurama? Not by blood or anything, 'cause Kurama is chakra, but apparently her ancestors soaked up a _ton_ of Kyuubi chakra, and for a while, they were all half demons. Then time went on and they became what they are today; a clan.

She probably won't be on my team though, and good riddance. She tends to try to steal my chakra.

Or rather, Kurama's chakra, but… Hey. At this point, what's the difference?

"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Mito, and Yamanaka Ino!"

I jump up, running past Sasuke, who's stalking forward in seeming indifference. He doesn't acknowledge my existence. I can hear the rude noises being made at me turn into admiration as Sasuke walks behind me to the classroom.

"Hai! What do I need to do, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka looks down at me, and I silently realize that if I don't want a repeat of assassination attempt Iruka, I need to get closer to him. Which is nearly impossible without failing the exam.

Eh. Whatever. He can try to kill me if he wants; it won't work. By now I've perfected the art of shinobi. I'm pretty good at cooking and baking now, too.

But if I make brownies, Hinata isn't getting any of them. I guess that's what happens when you kill someone who trusts you over something as stupid as being clan head.

"First, Mito, I need you to take aim at those targets. Hit them if you can." He turns away from me, looking to Ino and Sasuke. He tells them the rules to the exam in depth, because, really, at this point he's never actively tried to help me with anything. Mito doesn't register in his mind as a person, not even a little.

Sometimes it hurts having memories of good times with people when they don't have them anymore. I'm a stranger to some of my best friends.

I grin at Iruka, catching his eye. "Hai!"

The kunai are thrown. All but three are slightly off from the center, while those three were very off, but still on the target.

"Pass." Iruka murmured to me. He looked over at Sasuke and Ino. "Pass! And pass!" Someone seems a bit more enthusiastic towards them.

Please. Those were intentional. And, besides, is that teeth grinding I hear?

"Now, for the last part of the exam, please perform the three basic jutsu. Henge, bushin, and kawarimi. You must have at least two bushin, and a henge that could fool those of genin rank."

Now, I'm sure I can guess what you're thinking, or at least what I thought you were thinking. What? Her chakra control must be terrible after all those lives! Well, it doesn't really work that way.

I'm used to control chakra of Juubi level perfectly. You think the amount I had when I was twelve compares to that? No. My chakra control at this point makes Tsunade's look like that of a seven year old. Or, it makes Tsunade's chakra control look bad. Was that clear in my metaphor? I've never been good at that kind of thing, bayo.

And, well, what can I say? Kage bushin has perks, you know.

"I will, bayo!" I shout, performing the necessary hand seals. Actually, the seals are just for show, but… Eh.

_Ram_, _Boar_, _Ox_, _Dog_, _Snake_…

I switched places with a log that was lying on the ground near Iruka and Mizuki's desk, then switched back quickly.

_Dog_, _Boar_, _Ram_…

A poof of smoke later, and there was a perfect copy of Sasuke in the room. Another puff of smoke, and I was back.

_Ram_, _Snake_, _Tiger_…

Three copies of me fazed into existence beside me. Iruka looked impressed. Well! That lowers my standards. Why would someone be that amazed by the academy three?

Ino snorts, performing her own jutsu for Mizuki. Sasuke has already left the room with a forehead protector tied around his neck.

"Did I pass?" I ask, my bushin lingering beside me.

"Yes! Good job, Mito!" Iruka praised. He motioned to the box of hitai-ate beside him. "Pick one, Mito. You deserve it."

Mizuki looks seconds away from suicide.

I hop up to the desk, forcing myself to breathe harder as though that was difficult for me, and grin brilliantly. "Arigato, Iruka-sensei!" I grab the nearest headband, tying it around my forehead, red bangs flopping over it.

I turned around and skipped out of the room, practically dancing into my chair. Sasuke gives me a strange look, which for him is the equivalent of a scream, but I ignore it. I mean, I passed, but I didn't do _super_ great. Sasuke will be fine.

After a couple minutes, Ino walked out with a forehead protector tied around her waist, which left me feeling slightly irritated. Iruka and Mizuki followed. With me, Sasuke, and Ino, the test ended. Alphabetical, and all that.

"Alright!" Iruka shouted to the class. I wince at his volume. Was I really friends with this guy the first time around? "After the weekend, on the day you return to class, you will be assigned genin teams, with a jonin sensei. That will likely be your last day at the academy." Yeah, but only because more than seventy percent of the losers who fail will drop out. "Teaching you has been a pleasure." From the glare I'm getting, that's doubtful.

Iruka gave everyone a sharp, reprimanding stare. "You're dismissed."

This has happened before. Hundreds of times. This is _normal_.

So what's that feeling I'm getting in my stomach?

Eh. Probably Kurama.

After all, this is lifetime 520. What could possibly go wrong that hasn't already?

Yeah. Probably Kurama.

* * *

**And done. This is one of the longest chapters I've ever written, but I write short chapters, so... HOPE YOU LIKED IT.**

**Review?**

_Answer: Sand. I did it when I was three, and I'm still alive. I would never be able to eat a live goldfish._


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